Title
Seven Figures and a Design for Architecture
Berruguete, Alonso (Paredes de Nava, ca. 1488 - Toledo, ca. 1561)
Generic classification
DrawingObject
DrawingDate
ca. 1540-1555Century
Second quarter of the 16th c.Cultural context / style
RenaissanceDimensions
9,84 x 14,9 inMaterial
PaperIconography / Theme
ApóstolProvenance
Valladolid (Valladolid, Spain)Current location
École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts (Paris, France)Inventory Number in Current Collection
PC 37121Object history
At first it was attributed to the Italian school (Brugerolles, 1990), however, it was later considered to belong to the Spanish school due to an inscription written in Spanish (Boubli and Pérez, 1991; Boubli, 1994). This drawing was made by Alonso Berruguete, something that is evidenced by the inscription on the back, where a legal claim regarding the excessive expense spent on the decoration of a piece is recorded (McDonald, 2019). During the decade of 1540-1550 Berruguete received numerous commissions, which meant that he had to plan them all in great detail. Thus, this decade is where he carried out the most drawings. According to Arias Martínez (2016) "the drawing became [...] a precision tool to be used when transferring to wood what had been captured on paper. The relationship gives rise to talk about the existence of preparatory designs that, made by the master, would serve his workshop to fulfill the essential polychrome phase of the altarpiece".
Precisely, this was executed for a sculpture that was to be located in the church of Santiago Apóstol in El Carpio (Valladolid). However, that sculpture has not been preserved, so it is difficult to specify whether it actually came to be there (Azcárate, 1963; Alonso, 1922; McDonald, 2019). During the War of Independence (1809) the church was destroyed, making it impossible to trace it. Be that as it may, it seems logical to think that the drawing was in Valladolid, the city where Berruguete resided at this time. We do not know how and when the drawing was exported, but it ended up in the collection formed by Alfred Armand and Prosper Valton (Brugerolles, 1984). After the death of the latter, his collection was donated, and this drawing is currently located at the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts.
Description
Seven figures are represented in this drawing: the apostles. The theme seems logical considering that the sculpture was to be located in the church of Santiago Apóstol. Regarding the grouping of the figures, this does not differ from other works that Berruguete had carried out for the cathedral of Toledo or for the Christ of the chapel of the Savior in Úbeda (McDonald, 2019).
Locations
Mid XVIth c.
municipality
Valladolid, Valladolid (Spain)
ca. 1906
private collection
Armand-Valton, Paris (France) *
1911 - present
Bibliography
- ALONSO CORTÉS, Narciso (1922): "Datos para la biografía artística de los siglos XVI y XVII", nº 80, Boletín de la Real Academia de la Historia, p. 46.
- ARIAS MARTÍNEZ, Manuel (2016): "Un dibujo de Alonso Berruguete y su conexión con el repertorio decorativo del retablo de San Benito el Real de Valladolid", nº 51, BRAC, p. 14.
- ARIAS, Manuel (2011): Alonso Berruguete. Prometeo de la escultura, Diputación de Palencia, Palencia.
- AZCÁRATE, José María (1988): Alonso Berruguete : Cuatro Ensayos, Colegio de España, Salamanca, p. 108.
- BOUBLI, Lizzie (1994): "Magnifico mastre Alonso Berruguete: introduction à l'étude de son oeuvre graphique", nº 103, Revue de l'Art, p. 17.
- BOUBLI, Lizzie; PÉREZ SÁNCHEZ, Alfonso Emilio (1991): Dessins espagnols : maîtres des XVIe et XVIIe siècles, Réunion des musées nationaux. Musée du Louvre, París, p. 4.
- BRUGEROLLES, Emmanuelle (1984): Les dessins de la collection Armand-Valton, la donation d'un grand collectionneur du XIX° siècle à l'Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Ecole des Beaux-Arts, París, pp. 8-20.
- BRUGEROLLES, Emmanuelle (1990): Les dessins vénitiens des collections de l'École des beaux-arts, École nationale supérieure des Beaux-arts, París, p. 214.
- BRUGEROLLES, Emmanuelle (1981): De Michel-Ange à Géricault; dessins de la donation Armand-Valton, École nationale supérieure des beaux-arts, París.
- DICKERSON III, Claude Douglas y MCDONALD, Mark (dirs.) (2019): Alonso Berruguete: First Sculptor of Renaissance Spain, National Gallery of Art, Meadows Museum, SMU, CEEH y Yale University Press, Washington, p. 78.
Record manager
Isabel Escalera FernándezCitation:
Isabel Escalera Fernández, "Seven Figures and a Design for Architecture" in Nostra et Mundi. Cultural Heritage from Castile and Leon around the world, Fundación Castilla y León, 2025. https://inventario.nostraetmundi.com/en/work/394
Seven Figures and a Design for Architecture
